Many individuals question whether to leave grass clippings on a lawn or to pick them up. There are certain advantages and disadvantages to leaving clippings on a lawn depending on grass type and level of maintenance. For instance, clippings return nutrients to a lawn. Some studies suggest that as much as one third of the nitrogen requirement of a lawn can be supplied by decaying grass clippings. Nevertheless, the woody, slow-to-decompose stems of warm-season grass blades like those of Bermudagrass contribute to thatch-a layer of slowly decomposing grass stems, roots, and debris that accumulates above the soil and chokes plant growth. Clippings of cool-season grass varieties such as Kentucky Bluegrass, on the other hand, do not cause or contribute to thatch when left on a lawn.
In certain situations it is reasonable to remove grass clippings from a lawn irrespective of the lawn's nutritional requirements. As is well known, decaying clippings of any grass type can present an unattractive appearance, and they are removed from well manicured lawns for this reason. Secondly, infrequent mowing generally causes too much grass to be cut at one time. If the clippings are not removed when generated, they may mat down and prevent light from reaching the growing grass blades thereby causing unintended harm. Further, some individuals collect grass clippings to use as compost or mulch in a garden bed. This, of course, is acceptable provided that the clippings are free of broadleaf herbicides.
Thus, in the field of lawn maintenance, it is recognized that advantages may be obtained by collecting the grass clippings produced during lawn mowing operations rather than depositing the clippings on a lawn. The simplest and most effective means of preventing the cut grass from remaining on a lawn is to collect the clippings during cutting operations rather than letting them be deposited on the lawn where later removal is often difficult. With the development of self-propelled mowers, however, the problem of efficient, temporary storage of these clippings has become severe as such mowers can mow substantially larger areas in a much shorter time than the manually propelled models of the past.
It is well known that the efficiency of a self-propelled mower is reduced due to the frequency with which it is necessary to stop the mower and empty its grass catcher. While typically not a major problem for the home gardener, the amount of time spent by commercial lawn maintenance crews in discharging collected grass clippings can have a great impact on profit and work output. Attempts to reduce the frequency of emptying the grass catcher by providing a larger storage bag were only partially successful since the increased weight of the collected grass clippings adversely affected the stability of the mower on hilly or uneven terrain. In short, the mowers with larger bags became far less maneuverable than those with smaller catchers and often performed their cutting task unevenly.
Much time has been devoted of late to developing lawn mowers employing grass catchers which may be mounted, dismounted, and emptied with a minimum of effort. The optimum catchers, it is believed, must be light in weight and compact in size so as to not interfere with the mower's normal operation. Further, they must be of large capacity and easily detachable for emptying purposes. Nonetheless, present catcher apparatus still fall short of achieving these aspirational goals. Considerable manipulation of various catcher components is often required to attach and detach the catcher to the mower and empty its contents. Conversely, catchers having suitable "quick release" mechanisms often suffer from being overweight and are likewise difficult to manipulate for this reason. Consequently, the emptying of a grass catching apparatus is usually a difficult and time-consuming task.
Often employed by commercial lawn maintenance crews in their mowing operations are rigid, grass-catching boxes capable of quick mounting upon their mowers. One such box, marketed as the "Grass Gobbler" by Lawn-Wright, Inc., of Gaithersburg, Md., has seen widespread use and copying in the industry because of its rugged structure and effective attachment means. Nonetheless, limited volume and heavy weight have narrowed the utility of the device. Attempts to increase volume through the addition of a detachable, rigid extension or "Leaf Gobbler" have met with limited success. The Leaf Gobbler suffers from heavy steel construction, relatively small capacity, and an inability to be easily or quickly emptied when filled. Furthermore, the bulky Leaf Gobbler has been cumbersome and obstructive during mowing operations, making mowing in close areas and under low hanging shrubbery difficult if not impossible.
As the prior art grass catchers have been deficient in one manner or another, it would be desirable to provide a grass catcher for use with a rotary lawn mower which is simple in design, light in weight, readily detachable from the mower and not obstructive to normal mowing operations. It is believed that this need may be satisfied best by providing a flexible bag adapted to expand the capacity and utility of the rigid grass catching boxes widely used by commercial lawn maintenance crews.